Friday, 16 March 2012

ECA made sure of their status as Division B also-rans with a convincing win over Denton B on Wednesday night.

Denton were rather distracted as they all got stuck in traffic on their way to our venue and one of their players did not turn up at all. Nevertheless we were missing our board 1 so we did well to produce such a good score.

Here is how it went.

1. Phil 1-0 D Toole (171)

I have to face David's Four Pawns Attack against my King's Indian and tried a risky sideline where Black does not move his e pawn. I allowed David to play e5 and it looked like I was getting crushed. However in time trouble he didn't spot the killer move and I was able to get at his King with my Queen and pick up a few pieces with check.

2. Dave N 1-0 Default

Dave N played 1. d4 with great panache and that was the end of that one.

3. Dave B 0-1 K Ahmadi (155)

Dave B was doing fine (as normal) after the opening but then had a hallucination and lost a piece. There was no way back after that.

4. Keven 1-0 P Boyd (123)

Adopting a solid "bore my opponent into a strategic blunder" strategy Keven gradually ground his opponent down with a smooth win. Karpov would have been proud.

5. David T 1-0 D Cook (107)

David T seemed to be without counterplay in a stodgy French defence but his opponent lost on time while looking for the winning move.

6. Paul 1-0 I Urwin (119)

Paul did his best to play a gambit but his opponent insisted that Paul won a pawn instead. Paul gradually consolidated his advantage and won more material.

Thursday, 1 March 2012

East Cheshire A team finally managed something that they haven't done for years - beat a Stockport team!

The night started off well with a very convincing win by Keven. After a defeat and three draws it all came down to my game. Fortunately my opponent played rather passively and I was able to bring home the bacon.

1. John Reed 0.5 - 0.5 Mark McNulty (145)

John had a dubious opening and had to struggle for a few hours to finally achieve a draw.

2. Phil Ramsey 1 - 0 Peter Taylor (141)

Playing against an Old Indian system I build up a strong pawn centre. However Peter managed to exploit some of the holes in front of my King and complicate things. Fortunately for me he played very unambitiously and I emerged from time trouble with a winning passed pawn.

3. Dave Broadbent 0.5 - 0.5 Peter King (137)

Dave again had a very strong opening and won a pawn in the middlegame. However he let his opponent win the pawn back and eventually a draw was agreed.

4. Keven Holton 1 - 0 Vic Rushworth (137)

Playing against the King's Indian Keven obtained a couple of advanced passed pawns in the centre of the board and then finished things off in fine style, checkmating his opponent.

5. David Taylor 0.5 - 0.5 Marc Jackson (130)

David seemed to be on the rocks after the opening as his opponent had a fearsome attack but David defended carefully and in the end had the better of a draw.

6. Paul Bamford 0 - 1 John Kelly (126)

Paul had a typical swashbuckling opening and ended up two pawns up but his opponent managed to win the exchange and then the endgame.